The Story of My Life

Helen Keller

Sinopse

It is with a kind of fear that I begin to write the history of my life. I have, as it were, a superstitious hesitation in lifting the veil that clings about my childhood like a golden mist. The task of writing an autobiography is a difficult one. When I try to classify my earliest impressions, I find that fact and fancy look alike across the years that link the past with the present. The woman paints the child’s experiences in her own fantasy. A few impressions stand out vividly from the first years of my life; but “the shadows of the prison-house are on the rest.” Besides, many of the joys and sorrows of childhood have lost their poignancy; and many incidents of vital importance in my early education have been forgotten in the excitement of great discoveries. In order, therefore, not to be tedious I shall try to present in a series of sketches only the episodes that seem to me to be the most interesting and important.

Disponível desde: 25/10/2022.

Outros livros que poderiam interessá-lo

Bram Stoker: The True Story of...

Liam Dale

“A dog began to howl somewhere in a farmhouse far down the road, a long, agonized wailing, as if from fear. The sound was taken up by another dog, and then another and another, till, borne on the wind which now sighed softly through the pass, a wild howling began, which seemed to come from all over the country, as far as the imagination could grasp it through the gloom of the night.” 
 
With howling dogs, a shimmering moon and a chill wind through a darkened landscape, these words could only come from one novel; the great horror classic, Dracula, penned by the Irish born writer Bram Stoker. 
 
The name Dracula strikes fear whenever it is mentioned, such is the power of this novel, about a monstrous vampire that feeds on human blood. The character of Count Dracula himself has become as legendary as the hideous Frankenstein’s monster in the history of horror, while the story of Dracula has been used time and again in films, dating back to the early 20th Century and the silent movies, right up to the present day and the post millennium Hollywood blockbuster. 
 
But, what of the author of this gruesome novel of blood lust? Who created this tale of the living dead sucking every last drop of blood from their unsuspecting victims? In precisely the same way that Mary Shelley is little recognized for Frankenstein, the novel she created when she was a mere 18-years old, the author of Dracula, Bram Stoker is a similarly overlooked figure in the world of literature.

Ver livro

Peter Alliss - Reflections on a...

Peter Alliss

Peter Alliss was a truly monumental figure in the world of golf. His voice was the soundtrack to many who have paid even the scantest attention to the old game. This book records Peter's vivid recollections of a life well lived, looking back on his double-edged career in sport and media, one that is unlike any other and is surely never to be repeated.
Sit back and listen to Peter Alliss do what he did best: ramble on about this and that in that famous voice of his, drawing sharp and funny observations from disparate quarters of life before inevitably tying everything neatly together and returning to the subject of golf. His memory for long-passed names and distant places remained extraordinarily sharp.
He was also a man of his age which, naturally, meant there were more than a few facets of modern life he found confusing and exasperating. This, however, is surely true for any of us who have lived beyond the point where we wake up each day wondering what we ought to do with our lives.
He appreciated his good fortune at being able to make a living from his 'ramblings' while, at the same time, possessing an acute awareness of his rare talent for finding the appropriate word or phrase while winging it over a television picture. His belief that, sometimes, silence is more eloquent than words flies in the noisy face of much modern broadcasting. He was all the more appreciated by many of us for sticking to this conviction and for daring to hold firm in the face of changing convention. Peter is gone now, but the spirit of kindness in which he lived his life reverberates still.

Ver livro

Head On - A Memoir

Larry Csonka

Larry Csonka ran the football with audacity and authority. He lived his off-the-field life with equal abandon. As part of the NFL's 100th Anniversary, he and his undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins teammates were named the best team in NFL history. 
 
 
 
In Head On, Csonka shares how they achieved their legendary Perfect Season. From quitting football at a young age, to his often-combative relationship with Coach Don Shula, to brazen exploits with his NFL pals, Csonka narrates a life that is colorful, unbridled, and thrilling. 
 
 
 
Csonka found himself hanging out with Burt Reynolds, Dick Butkus, Lee Majors, Joe Namath, and Elvis Presley during his football years. But his moments outside the spotlight reveal the most about this larger-than-life figure—raising critters and a little hell in his formative years on an Ohio dirt farm, early run-ins with the law, confronting thieves with a sawed-off shotgun, taking sniper fire on a USO tour of Vietnam, and being adrift at night on the Bering Sea with gale-force winds raging. 
 
 
 
Csonka's Head On is a captivating account of grit, grace, and gumption told by an iconic Hall of Famer who continues to gain ground—figuratively, literally, and unapologetically—every day.

Ver livro

The Poetry of Strangers - What I...

Anônimo

It might surprise you who’s a fan of poetry — when it meets them where they are.
Before he became an award-winning writer and poet, Brian Sonia-Wallace set up a typewriter on the street with a sign that said “Poetry Store” and discovered something surprising: all over America, people want poems. An amateur busker at first, Brian asked countless strangers, “What do you need a poem about?” To his surprise, passersby opened up to share their deepest yearnings, loves, and heartbreaks. Hundreds of them. Then thousands. Around the nation, Brian’s poetry crusade drew countless converts from all walks of life.
In The Poetry of Strangers, Brian tells the story of his cross-country journey in a series of heartfelt and insightful essays. From Minnesota to Tennessee, California to North Dakota, Brian discovered that people aren’t so afraid of poetry when it’s telling their stories. In “dying” towns flourish vibrant artistic spirits and fascinating American characters who often pass under the radar, from the Mall of America’s mall walkers to retirees on Amtrak to self-proclaimed witches in Salem.
In a time of unprecedented loneliness and isolation, Brian’s journey shows how art can be a vital bridge to community in surprising places. Conventional wisdom says Americans don’t want to talk to each other, but according to this poet-for-hire, everyone is just dying to be heard.
Thought-provoking, moving, and eye-opening, The Poetry of Strangers is an unforgettable portrait of America told through the hidden longings of one person at a time, by one of our most important voices today. The fault lines and conflicts which divide us fall away when we remember to look, in every stranger, for poetry.

Ver livro

This Is Qatar: Anecdotes from an...

M. Star

Ever wonder what it’s like to live in Qatar? Well M hadn’t. He couldn’t have even found it on a map... then found himself there.

When M arrived in Qatar from London on his newly-minted expat assignment, he didn’t expect to be confronted with life’s most existential choices...so immediately.

And he dragged his girlfriend-cum-wife too.

“But I wanted to go to Singapore,” she said.

“We got at least half-way there!”

From job offer, to eloping in Las Vegas (because living together out of wedlock is haram), to having a kid - and back again, “TIQ” is a humorous, if not slightly exaggerated, acerbic account of an amateur expat’s trials and tribulations waaaay out of his depth in a country, frankly, he had never heard of.

If you’re about to move to Qatar, or if you ever thought you wanted to visit (you KNOW you want to), TIQ will help you frame (and perhaps even answer) some non-trivial questions such as:

- What would you choose with your marginal dollar - beer, or bacon?

- Is it OK to eat your lunch on the toilet?

- Who’s that scary voice on the radio every morning? and

- Are traffic signs really just...guidelines?

If you weren’t planning on moving to Qatar, or even visiting - the shock, laughs and jaw-droppingly ridiculous happenstances might just even move the needle (albeit slightly).

Way back when M got his Hebrew tattoo, his mom, like any good Jewish-American, said, “Well, now you’ll never be able to go to the Middle East.”

M just scoffed and said, “Middle East? Me? Never.”

Who’s laughing now?

(And by the way: the answer is definitely never bacon.)

Ver livro

Strong Female Character - What...

Hanna Flint

Hanna Flint speaks from the heart in this personal and incisive reflection on how cinema has been the key to understanding herself and the world we live in. A staunch feminist of mixed-race heritage, Hanna has succeeded in an industry not designed for people like her. Interweaving anecdotes from familial and personal experiences—episodes of messy sex, introspection, and that time actor Vincent D'Onofrio tweeted that Hanna Flint sounded like a secret agent—she offers a critical eye on the screen's representation of women and ethnic minorities and their impact on her life, body image, and ambitions, with the humor and eloquence that has made her a leading film critic of her generation. Divided into the sections Origin Story, Coming of Age, Adult Material, Workplace Drama, and Strong Female Character, the book ponders how the creative industries could better reflect our multicultural society. Warm, funny, engaging, and full of film-infused lessons, Strong Female Character will appeal to listeners of all backgrounds and seeks to help us better see ourselves in our own eyes rather than letting others decide who and what we can be.

Ver livro